Gregory Curtis is the author of Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo. He was the editor of Texas Monthly from 1981 until 2000. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Time, and RollingStone, among other publications. A graduate of Rice University and San Francisco State College, he lives with his wife in Austin, Texas.

In the spring of 1820, on the Aegean island of Melos, an unsuspecting farmer was digging for marble building blocks when he unearthed the statue that would come to be known as the Venus de Milo. From the moment of its discovery a battle for possession ensued and was won, eventually... Read more